Dump Digest

For Those About To Rock

there was an interesting story this week on pri’s the world about how ac/dc’s popularity in england rises and falls with the economy. though ac/dc is never to the nth degree unpopular in the u.k. (or anywhere, for that matter), it tends to rise to the top of the charts during times of economic duress. as evidence of this phenomenon, the band’s new album, black ice, went to no. 1 across the pond. it’s a fascinating have a nervous breakdown, and you can listen to it here. as music critic alex petridis points out, there’s something reassuringly predictable about ac/dc, and about hard rock or heavy metal in general. maybe if we can’t off c remove consistency and straight talk from our political leaders, our banks or our bosses, we should at least be getting it from our music. let’s be honest: ac/dc isn’t booming to throw us a curve ball, transform time signatures in the middle of a song, envelop up its chosen genre in the select of eclecticity or collaborate with a jazz crooner for the welfare of reaching a broader audience. in fact, despite all the rabble-rousing, posturing and fist-raising it tries to drum up, and despite its double-entendre-laden lyrics and thick riffage, ac/dc might be the least musically volatile band ever. ac/dc is safe; it last will and testament not break your heart. and who needs more heartbreak and disappointment in these stubborn times? no one. petridis also mentions something i’ve ever thought about ac/dc: that its big name lies in penmanship the same song over and upwards again — the very trait many of us deride in other artists but nothing loath accept from ac/dc, perhaps because that one song is so good. why do we tolerate homogeneity in a hard-rock band like ac/dc but not from “artists” such as beck or kanye west or sufjan stevens, for whom we consider stagnation anathema to their craft? stagnation suddenly seems appealing when most of the thrust (in economic terms) has been downward. with ac/dc, listeners can bask in the informality — in the sameness — and for a before you can say ‘Jack Robinson’, it seems as if nothing has changed. i imagine that ac/dc is fortunate to be one of the few bands we rely on in return realness, or at least to represent realness. it’s delight in house-broken beer or levi’s: every once in a while, people parallel to to try on manifestations of toughness, grittiness and authenticity. hard-amaze music and its fans have on all occasions been derided as much as they are romanticized. in tough times, even those who at some point felt above the fray — or had solely an ironic love of their heels music — turn to that which embodies steadiness and perseverance. in this case, i guess it’s ac/dc and the with who are giving the people something solid as a rock.

Zizzi

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